


Snow Is Falling

by MidoriKurenaiYume



Series: Winter Wonderland [12]
Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Romance, Arguing, Cultural Differences, Dialogue, Drama, F/M, Marriage Proposal, Non-Graphic Violence, War, hints of romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-02 20:50:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17270909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: Inuyasha AU.Human!Arturia, Youkai!Gilgamesh.As the snow raged around the cave, they talked about the endless wars between humans and demons.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Last of the winter/Christmas stories, based on "Inuyasha", and slightly inspired by how Kikyo-Inuyasha fell in love (even though neither Arturia nor Gilgamesh are like them at all). There's a reference to the character of Shippou, even though he doesn't appear directly.  
> Warning: mentions of... cannibalism, I guess?  
> Thank you so much to Christy for helping with a few parts of this fic :D  
> ([here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/181642503745/snow-is-falling) on tumblr)
> 
> Title: from a background music of the Kara no Kyoukai anime-movie series, sung by Kalafina. NOT related to my story "Snow Falling".  
> THEME: peace.

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Arturia fought to hold back a grunt of pain as she tried to walk faster. She knew there was a cave nearby and she knew the general direction she had to take to get there, but she hadn’t been around the area for a few years, and both her injury and the growing snowstorm weren’t helping at all.

She was well aware of the fact that the cold of the snow was what was reducing the pain and keeping her standing, but it certainly wasn’t helping her move faster. Large amounts of snow were angrily hitting her entire body, making her progress slow and weakening her resolve. She could already feel her legs becoming heavier and the ever increasing desire to just stop for a while in order to rest; but she knew that if she gave in, she wouldn’t be able to muster the willpower get up again.

She pushed forward, steeling herself by inwardly cursing – even though only half-heartedly – the ones who were responsible for her injury.

Merlin, her village’s priest, had received a request for help from a former student of his, Morgana, asking for the slayers’ assistance to get rid of the demons that were attacking her village. The journey to get there was long, and Arturia had been sent on this mission together with three apprentice-slayers, only to discover that the village was perfectly safe and they hadn’t seen Merlin’s former student in many years.

As soon as they had left to go back, Morgana and the demons she had captured and was now controlling had attacked them. As it had started snowing in that same moment and Arturia had recognized the early signs of an incoming storm, she had ordered the other slayers to immediately go back and inform Merlin of what had happened.

The battle against the demons had lasted much longer than she had anticipated, Morgana’s black magic being stronger than she had thought possible and being very much intent on killing her. It had taken several hours before she had finally managed to hit Morgana with a dagger filled with holy power and break the control she had over the demons.

After getting rid of the dagger, Morgana had then ridiculed her for refusing to kill the demons, as it had made the fight much longer and more exhausting for them both. She had then used the last of her energy to create a distraction before attempting to behead Arturia. The blonde demon slayer had been unable to avoid the blow completely, but since it had hit her side, Arturia had let her spiritual powers run through the blade that had hit her, so that they would reach Morgana and finally turn her to dust on contact.

By then, it was evening and the snowstorm had already reached her. The demons freed from Morgana’s control had immediately fled, confused by their unexpected freedom but not about to waste time in questioning it. She had instead taken a clean piece of fabric from her bags, pressing it against the wound, and had started to make her way towards the forest next to the mountain, where she knew there was a cave.

Right then, Arturia finally spotted the cave and increased her pace. She fervently hoped it was like all other caves slayers had prepared across the country, full of firewood and some basic supplies, because otherwise she was going to have serious difficulties in surviving the storm.

Thankfully, it was, and it was well sheltered and well protected too. She felt relief wash over her when she was finally away from the violent snowstorm, until a few steps further inside made her wince because of the pain. A quick glance around confirmed that no one had been there for quite a while, therefore she rapidly started a fire and looked through her bags for clean bandages. She collected some snow to put water to boil, in order to have some to clean her wound and some to drink later.

As she waited, she checked her supplies and began to carefully remove the damaged part of her slayer outfit, knowing that she was going to have to repair it before morning. She grimaced at the sight of her blood but was glad to see that the wound was much more superficial than she had thought. It had already stopped bleeding as well, and even though the dark red just below her waist was in stark contrast with the pale skin that surrounded it, she could accurately determine that it wasn’t going to cause her major problems aside from some discomfort.

She had no difficulties in reaching her side in order to treat it, but she decided it would be even easier if she removed the rest of her clothes. Shrugging slightly at the hesitation that modesty suggested even if she was alone, she made to tug at her tight bodice to pull it off.

A discreet huff, coming from the inner part of the cave, made her head snap up and her hand reach for her sword, her body tensing and getting ready to fight once again.

The shadowy figure took a few steps forward, allowing her to see him, and her stance relaxed as she recognized him.

He noticed of course, and a slow smirk appeared on his lips as she gave him a measured nod. The red symbols on his face, resembling claw marks, glinted in the firelight as he came to leisurely take a seat not far from her, close enough to the fire so that he could face her and observe her easily. His blond hair was down, and it was longer than she recalled it being, looking slightly like a lion’s mane. Which, given the fact that he was one of the most powerful lion demons – or youkai – in the world, shouldn’t have been surprising.

Arturia focused on the now boiling water to clean her bandages, while she mentally reprimanded herself for not having noticed his presence before. She hadn’t examined the cave with her powers, only glancing around briefly before making herself comfortable, which was quite thoughtless on her part. She had instinctually sensed traces of demonic aura, but that was rather common for caves and she hadn’t investigated it.

Her eyes landed on the demon in front of her. He was actively shielding his aura from her, which would have made it impossible for her to detect him, but over the past few months she had learned to distinguish the faint traces of his presence anyway. If she had been careful enough to examine the cave – as she should have – she knew that she would have noticed him.

The only excuse she had was that she was weakened not just by her wound, as it was superficial, but also by the long battle she had fought in the afternoon. She recalled having last felt his presence just before sending the young slayers away, because then she had been too focused on Morgana to think about the lion demon who had been following her around for the past year.

“You are becoming careless, _slayer_ ,” he commented blithely, his voice sounding as deep as she remembered, gleaming blood red eyes on her as intense as ever.

There was also the same slight sneer in his tone as he called her ‘slayer’, to which she decided not to pay any attention.

She knew what was implied in that mildly mocking tone. She was technically a demon slayer, and easily one of the best. Her village was famous not just because it was bigger than others, but also because many accomplished slayers lived there and actively protected it. There was also the added bonus of Merlin’s presence, whose reputation as a wise and powerful priest couldn’t help but boost the village’s.

Yet what no one aside from Merlin knew was that Arturia herself had holy powers. Not sufficient to make her a strong priestess, but still enough to become one if she had wanted to. Since being both a priestess and a demon slayer was impossible, Merlin had however ordered her to keep her abilities a secret, not only so that she wouldn’t be sent away for training as a priestess, but also because it would make her a more skilled fighter. He had clandestinely taught her how to control her powers, making sure she could detect demons more easily and add her purification abilities to battle if necessary.

Back then, Arturia couldn’t deny that she had still had strong prejudices against demons, considering them to be all monsters; she had seen the massacred villages and the half-eaten corpses they often left behind, and she had therefore been more than ready to use any advantage she had in order to exterminate every last one of them.

The only other creature who knew about her holy powers – and who had played a part in her growing up from her prejudices – was the lion demon Gilgamesh, even though he had found out completely by accident.

Arturia had once felt an immensely powerful aura approach the village, and she had already become proficient enough to be able to even guess that the demon in question was still holding back his full power. She knew that no one in the village was strong enough to defeat it, not even Merlin, who had come running to her in a panic just a few minutes later. Arturia knew that the village was made of mostly honest and hard-working people, and her fellow slayers were noble warriors who would protect everyone. Therefore, she had told him to make sure everyone was ready to evacuate as she instead went to buy them all some time.

She had been ready to die that day; knowing that she wasn’t strong enough to win, she had meant to keep the demon occupied long enough to let her people escape, and perhaps even lure him further away from the village. She had expected to engage him in battle and be killed after a reasonably short amount of time.

She obviously hadn’t expected the day to end quite differently.

She had felt him move around the forest for a while, and had followed him, unaware of the fact that by doing so she was revealing her ability to sense him. She had found him in a clearing, away from everyone and everything, and she had been ready to fight to the death – only for him to address her, in a dispassionate tone, and start a rather astonishing conversation with her.

That was how she had found out that he was an extremely bored demon, who had no interest whatsoever in wiping out her village – even though she had demanded he swear it before believing him, and seeing how distrustful she was, he had scoffed but agreed – and merely wanted to ask her some questions.

To her increasing wariness and puzzlement, even though he had never said so directly, she had discovered that he had been following her for several weeks, studying her and watching her while carefully hiding his aura, and had developed some curiosity towards her. As she had still been focused on her village’s wellbeing, she hadn’t taken any of his words seriously, suspecting that he was just toying with his food before eating it.

When she had accused him of this, she had however been confused by the palpable amusement that had come from him and by his strange _honesty_ when he had told her that he did not plan to attack her. What he had been interested in – and had made him decide to purposefully reveal his aura in order to make her come to him, she learned – was her role in human society, as he had seen that she wasn’t a priestess yet had holy powers.

Once she had reluctantly admitted to being a demon slayer and tersely explained how the two things weren’t compatible, he had lost much of his amusement. There had still been interest in his blood red eyes – in fact, he had looked almost _intrigued_ by her – but it had been impossible to ignore the touch of contempt that had settled on his inhumanly perfect features.

His last words, pronounced coldly before he had taken his leave without an explanation, had cut her deeply, especially since she had known them to be perfectly true.

“Perhaps it’s your steadfast strength of character and loyalty to your principles that set you apart from other humans, but one contradiction is undeniable. _You live a_ _lie_ , beautiful _slayer_.”

After that extraordinary meeting, he hadn’t come to speak with her again. She had often kept sensing his presence nearby, both when she was at the village and when she fought against demons outside, but while he had obviously allowed her to detect him, he had kept his promise and never attacked.

She hadn’t been certain he would keep his word, but he did, and that confused her, as she hadn’t been aware of the possibility of demons having any honour.

This had made her curious, and she had therefore decided to follow him once, as he seemed to go to one specific place with some frequency. To her surprise, she had discovered a family of small and young fox demons and, even though she had kept her distance so not to frighten them, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from observing them. They had seemed kind and peaceful, and she saw them fight another demon only when they were attacked first.

What she had witnessed had made her think, and she hadn’t been able to avoid bringing it up with Merlin. The elderly priest had given her a strange look as he had asked her why she believed _all_ demons to be just monsters. A long conversation had followed, and Arturia had been forced to face her blind prejudices.

She had not told Merlin about the presence of the lion demon that she could sense around her; as much as she still feared he could have an ulterior motive for being close to her, he didn’t interfere in her battles nor did he influence her life in any other way. Besides, when she had come back from her first encounter with such a powerful demon, Merlin had not questioned her when she had merely told him that he had fled.

She had felt a sudden spike in the lion demon’s aura some time later, coming from the direction where she had first seen the fox demon family. Having learned her lesson, she had carefully cloaked her presence while approaching and, for the first time, had beheld a battle between demons. It had been a very short one, given the lion demon’s clearly limitless powers, but it had still been something indescribable.

It had taken her a while to piece together what had happened, but when she did, she had been dismayed.

A rather strong demon had attacked the fox demon family, killing the father and the mother; the small fox cub had implored ‘Gilgamesh-sama’s protection’, and the lion demon had agreed to come to his rescue. Arturia was never going to admit it out loud, but she had been taken aback at seeing the powerful lion demon – apparently called Gilgamesh – appear, and him being the one who had comforted the crying cub and promised to take him to his palace, where he would be safe with other young demons. He wasn’t kind or tender in his behaviour, but his usually flippant attitude had seemed to soften and the cub had clearly – and unhesitatingly – decided to put his trust in him.

Arturia had silently gone back to her village, and she hadn’t been truly surprised when she had sensed the aura disappear for a few days.

She had given his words some more thought as weeks passed. He had twisted his knife in an open wound, because Arturia didn’t enjoy keeping her powers a secret from her fellow slayers, who were also her _friends_. She knew it was necessary, as knowledge would put them in danger, but it was still wrong not to tell Lancelot, Gawain, Guinevere, and Bedivere the truth. She trusted them with her life, yet she couldn’t tell them about her holy powers.

At the very least she could tell them what she had found out about demons and try to convince them to overcome their prejudices like she had been able to do. It wasn’t easy at the beginning, since she couldn’t tell them the fox demon story, but there were plenty of examples that she had simply refused to see before. And slowly, the other slayers had begun to be less narrow-minded as well.

Arturia shook herself from her reflection and focused on the now perfectly clean bandages, getting ready to dress her wound. She frowned as she looked at it closely, suddenly realizing why it had been so painful even though it was superficial: Morgana had used her own blade, which had probably been filled with dark magic. She needed to purify her skin in order to properly bandage it, and if she hadn’t been in the middle of a snow blizzard and tired after hours of battle, she would have done so right away, probably without even thinking.

Grimacing at how much energy the day had cost her, she brought her hand over the injury and concentrated. A pale blue light blazed from her fingers, and her features distended in relief, feeling the pain ebb and the skin already beginning to heal. Not wanting to consume her already low energies, she carefully bandaged herself and worked on her slayer outfit, fixing it so that it would cover her again.

She then drank some boiled water, before remembering that she wasn’t alone. She looked at her unlikely companion, realizing that he had been staring at her intently the entire time.

For some reason, the thought did not bother her.

“Would you like some water to drink?”

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Gilgamesh had never liked humans.

They were inferior, fickle creatures, always ready to start a fight over nonsense and act as if they were morally superior to other animals, when in truth they were as flat and boring as all other beings. They were despicable.

That was what he thought, at least until he met her.

It had been almost by chance. He had seen a group of violent demons fighting a group of skilled slayers – humans had been quick in learning how to fight, he had to recognize that – and one of the demons had cowardly run into the forest. The slayers, who were obviously protecting a human village, had followed him, led by one of them, who had managed to trace the fleeing one too accurately to simply be a good tracker.

Since he had been bored and what he had seen had seemed at least _slightly_ interesting, he had decided to observe her.

It had taken him a month to determine that she was indeed an interesting human. Her life wasn’t overly exciting or surprising, but he never found himself feeling no longer interested. In spite of the fact that she seemed to hide some truths about herself from companions she obviously trusted, she lived by her principles, something he acknowledged was rare among humans and demons alike.

She was different from other creatures, and he could not place her among those he considered worthless.

Some of her choices made no sense to him, especially when he had seen her try very hard to protect as many people as possible. Even with her impressive abilities, there was only so much that she could do, yet she didn’t seem to know it, or rather, to _care_ about it. She would push herself to her limits and beyond for the safety of her people, and while it was admittedly quite foolish, he couldn’t help grudgingly admiring it as well.

Eventually, he had decided that he had to meet her, to see whether she lived up in person to what he had seen of her so far. He had allowed the slayer-priestess with blonde hair and green eyes to sense his aura and had made sure she followed him.

Her worry about his intentions hadn’t been something he considered necessary, but it would have been thoughtless on her part to just trust him without question. He had been quite amused and even slightly impressed by the fact that she was exactly the kind of human he had thought she would be and more, as it confirmed that she wasn’t a fake person.

He had realized that there was the concrete danger of him paying her too much attention, and he had been already well aware of it when he had stopped making an effort at concealing his aura from her. He had known that she was aware of his presence, but she had appeared to respect the distance and hadn’t come after him.

Not that he had _truly_ minded. He had after all many other things to take care of, among which there were his palace, his lands, and the many subjects he had decided were worthy of his protection and could therefore find a safe haven there.

Nevertheless, the fact that she hadn’t tried to approach him, while expected on her part, was also slightly frustrating. Observing her – _watching over her_ , he would not deny it – from a distance had started to become unsatisfying.

Yet there hadn’t been much he could – or would – do about it. She was a human, a skilled demon slayer who possessed holy powers designed to eradicate demons from existence; he was instead a lion demon of limitless power who was far too much interested in her.

He did not intend to stop following her any time soon though, and that was how he had found himself watching her long battle against the sorceress Morgana. She had clearly been aware of the fact that the witch was controlling the demons she had around, and she had therefore avoided hitting them with fatal blows, but that generous decision had considerably slowed down the fight and made it much harder for her.

For the first time, Gilgamesh had had to actively stop himself from intervening.

He hadn’t been surprised by the desire itself, as it wasn’t the first time he had felt it, but he had been forced to control his almost unstoppable _need_ to help her in her battle, especially when he had noticed that a snowstorm was approaching.

Never mind the fact that he knew that she was a strong and capable warrior and could perfectly well look after herself; he hadn’t wanted to take her victory from her either, he had just… not wanted to leave her alone in it.

Which was certainly an unusual desire for a demon.

He had noticed her being injured, and again had had to stop himself from intervening. He had watched the direction she was taking, and easily found the cave before she arrived there, carefully following her slow progress until she was safely inside.

That was when he had realized that she was unaware of his presence. She was usually more perceptive, which told him that the fight must have weakened far more than he had thought.

He had contemplated his options: while he was now certain that she was in a safe place and he didn’t need to watch over her any longer, he was not about to jump into that nuisance of a storm just to avoid being seen by her.

Moreover, hiding just wasn’t part of his nature.

Not above making a dramatic entrance, he had only revealed his presence when she had been about to start undressing, and had stared at her with eyes full of amusement as she startled but did not seem displeased. He _had_ found it quite odd when she had not attempted to make him leave the cave, but had subsequently decided not to dwell on it.

She had then taken care of her wound – no matter how ineffective they would have been against him, her spiritual powers fascinated him – and had settled her clothes around her body more carefully.

He knew very well that she was going to need rest and there would therefore be little conversation – seeing that her usually bright green eyes were dull with fatigue confirmed it – but it didn’t change the fact that he was going to spend the whole night with this interesting human.

Then she took him by surprise by unexpectedly offering him some water to drink.

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He stared at her in silence, weighing his answer. It was a kind offer, expected from a person like her. An offer expected from a human to another.

But _he_ wasn’t a human.

“Not necessary,” he replied, with little class but firm demeanour. Then, realizing that making an effort wasn’t going to cost him too much, he added, “I’m not thirsty.”

She seemed to accept this, and put the rest of the water to one side, to obviously drink more later.

As she rummaged through her supplies for something to eat and gave him a glance, he prevented her question by saying, “I’ve already eaten.”

This time, she stared at him as she slowly chewed on her food and swallowed it. She took another gulp of water and still studied him carefully.

Suddenly, she asked, “Why do demons eat humans?”

He hadn’t expected her to start a conversation of this kind, and he was slightly surprised by the fact that there was no belligerence in her tone, only detached, determined curiosity.

After a second of pause, he countered, “Why do humans eat cattle?”

Gilgamesh watched as she took in his words. He was positive that this risked being quite the philosophical discussion, and he did not intend for that to happen.

“Why do _you_ not eat humans?” she questioned then, giving him a speculative glance.

He couldn’t suppress an entertained smirk.

“What makes you believe I don’t?”

Arturia’s instincts told her to be wary, but she managed to control them and stared at him without showing any reactions. She noticed that he seemed slightly impressed, and this emboldened her.

“There’s a fire ready to cook food if you don’t like it raw, and I’m here. If you had wanted to eat me, you would have done so by now.”

Now he was definitely amused, but she wasn’t done yet. “Aside from never seeing you give humans anything aside from more or less well-earned scorn, I’ve also seen you offer protection to helpless demon cubs without bringing them any harm. I have a hard time believing that you would eat humans for no reason at all, Gilgamesh.”

She had used his name casually, probably not on purpose but certainly willing to disclose her knowledge of it. The little human may not have approached him during the past few months in which he had kept following her, but she had not ignored him at all.

She had clearly been finding out more about him; she had been _learning_ about him.

Just because she was so interesting, and because he definitely liked the sparkle of life that appeared in her tired green eyes when she addressed him, he decided he would give a straight answer to her previous question.

“Humans taste rather bad,” he informed her, completely composed. “Most demons don’t like human meat, as it’s objectively bad.” His lips became a thin line. “But among demons, same as among humans, there are… deranged ones.”

His gaze was heavy on her, but she didn’t blink nor look away. “You know that there are some humans who are nothing but murderers. Same is the case with some demons.” He paused. “There are some demons who are cunning, others who are liars. Same as there are liars among humans. Or humans who live lies.” His eyes were unforgiving as they pierced her. “Like you.”

Arturia went rigid, but she didn’t have the time to even attempt to say something in her defence, because he wasn’t done with his accusations.

“You hide your powers,” he reminded her – as if she needed a reminder –, “you hide something that would help your fellow slayers.”

She averted her eyes from him, not finding the words to begin to explain, and after a moment of thought, she decided not to even try.

What he was saying was true; but even if she knew that he had been observing her for months now, he did not understand human society, and she wouldn’t waste her breath in trying to clarify – especially since she herself believed that those human rules were senseless.

Without another word, she turned away from him and took out a folded blanket from her bags. She did not care about the demon’s presence; she was tired and she was going to get her sleep, regardless of her currently less-than-amicable feelings towards him.

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Wise people, including Merlin, used to say that sleeping on an issue often helped find a solution for it.

Arturia was not sure how much credit she was willing to give to those beliefs, but she certainly felt much more in her wits once she woke up in the morning. She had actually had a few ideas, which she had been entertaining for a while now, but the inability to contact a demon with whom there could be a conversation about them had made them pointless, at least so far.

The current situation however made them suddenly possible; provided of course that she managed to keep her cool long enough to navigate through what promised to be a hostile and thorny conversation.

Her eyes were drawn to the cave’s entrance, where she could still see the snow falling to the ground viciously. The worse of the blizzard had passed, but it would take a few hours before going out became a feasible endeavour.

She turned around to study Gilgamesh, finding him awake – obviously, since she doubted someone as proud as him would ever allow her to see him asleep – and looking towards the entrance as well, with visible distaste.

He wasn’t any happier than her about being trapped in a cave, but as it would allow her to have her planned conversation with him, she would make the most of it.

Before speaking, she wordlessly offered him water again, and this time he reluctantly accepted to take a sip. She prepared her bags for later and worked on keeping the fire burning, knowing that before going back to her village, she was going to have to restock the cave’s firewood supply. A brief check of her injury confirmed that a good night of rest had been more than enough to help with its healing.

As there was nothing to do but wait for the snow to stop falling, Arturia stared at Gilgamesh over the fire.

“It’s what Priest Merlin ordered me to do,” she said simply, and saw him turn his head to lock eyes with her. “If others knew that I have holy powers, no matter how modest they are, I would be locked away in a temple for a certain number of years, to learn all the sacred scriptures and eventually become a priestess to succeed Merlin. According to him, the village can spare me for a short while, but not for so long.”

“That’s prodigiously stupid,” he informed her matter-of-factly, with some disdain in the way he lifted his chin. “Humans do seem to like to create very rigid and completely futile divisions among their occupations, weakening themselves as they do so.”

His tone made his opinions on human intelligence very clear, and she refrained from commenting, as she hardly disagreed, at least on this particular subject.

He took advantage of the silence to continue, “This elderly priest, however, will die one day. If you don’t get your training in the spiritual arts, who will take his place?”

She hadn’t expected this question, and it took her a second before being able to answer.

“In that case, I will have to step in whether I like it or not.”

His expression was plainly unconvinced.

“Your fellow slayers won’t be happy to realize that they have been lied to,” he reminded her pointedly.

“At least I would be able to protect them,” she shot back, unfazed by his clear attempt at shattering her confidence.

His exasperation became clear when he noted, “Always one for self-sacrifice, I should have remembered.” Of course he wasn’t done. “And what will your village’s destiny be, once something happens to you?”

“ _That_ won’t happen,” she stated, tone categorical.

Abruptly, he smiled, even though it certainly wasn’t a kind smile.

“Are you sure?”

The look he was giving her couldn’t help filling her with worry: he was completely serious, and there was something dark in his tone, as if he was warning her.

“You are a strong fighter,” he went on calmly. “But you can’t win against me. If I wanted to take you away from here, no one would be able to stop me. You have the selfless desire to protect your village, but you don’t realize that you can’t do it on your own.”

“I never said I would do it on my own,” she cut him off.

He didn’t know it, but he had unknowingly brought the conversation exactly on the subject she truly wanted to address and discuss with him.

He let out a scoff, already trying to find the loophole in her strategy.

“You think your precious friends will trust you, after finding out that you kept the secret of your abilities for so long?” If she hadn’t been so concentrated on her next words, she would have noticed how angry he suddenly seemed to be. “Humans truly are inferior creatures.”

Arturia’s frustration was now visible, but she gave no reply to that remark. She _refused_ to, because she knew that he was doing it on purpose.

“I actually have another plan,” she finally admitted, forcing herself to focus on what mattered. “Which is part of the reason why I didn’t insist you leave the cave when I noticed your presence here last night.”

She wasn’t going to admit that, in the state she had been in, it would have been difficult for her to evict him, even though they both knew it. They both also knew that she was however capable of creating a barrier that, in spite of not being able to stop him forever, would have definitely taken him quite some time to break through.

She shook those thoughts off – she could see them reflected in his eyes as well – and resolutely met and held his gaze.

“I want to find a truce with the demons.”

At hearing this, he blinked, genuinely astounded. For the first time in a very, _very_ long time, he was at a loss for words, bestowing the sight of an almost gaping lion demon upon Arturia.

She kept staring at him unflinchingly, giving him the time to take in her words but unwilling to stop.

“You despise company, but you are obviously someone of importance in the demon world. While I am merely a slayer, I want a truce, a treaty, a ceasefire that will eventually lead to peace between your world and mine – and I want you to help me create it.”

To his amusement and even slight amazement, Gilgamesh discovered that he was actually feeling interested in hearing what she wanted to do. Although extremely ambitious and nearly unmanageable, he could not deny that it was an intriguing perspective. Not only was he suddenly interested in hearing _how_ it was supposed to happen in her vision in the first place, but he was also feeling some curiosity to see how it was going to _turn out to be_.

Then he thought a bit better of it. Most of her strategy for peace – provided it worked – was undoubtedly going to be a tedious process, involving a boring amount of violent discussions that would take away many of the best hours of the day… but it wasn’t altogether impossible to achieve.

What thrilled him the most, however, were the many uncertain consequences of attempting something like this. He was quite good at predicting outcomes, but about this – he could not guess a satisfying conclusion.

He _wanted_ to see how this idea turned out to be, he realized.

His blood red eyes landed on her again, studying her intensely. He wanted to see what this small, strong, stubborn, resourceful, prideful, slightly naïve, contradictory yet true and unfailingly loyal human with captivating green eyes would manage to come up with next.

He wanted to be there to see it, and the best way to do that was to be around her, which meant that he had to go along with her plans and actually help her out.

She probably knew this too; even though there was no uncertainty in her firm gaze – she was going to make the attempt with or without his help, he knew that – he could tell that she was tense, waiting for his answer.

He decided he had let her suffer enough. She may be nothing but a human, but she was going through more than enough hardships as it was, some of which he had deliberately reminded her of himself; there was undeniably no need to add more.

Pushing that strange thought aside, he gave her a slow nod, showing that he agreed.

“Fine, human. I accept to try.”

Something flickered through her green eyes.

“My name is Arturia,” she said succinctly. “I’m human, yes, but I’d appreciate you using my name.”

She had not mentioned the fact that he hadn’t used the title ‘slayer’ or ‘priestess’. Amusement filled him again, but he was surprised by how suddenly _affectionate_ that feeling seemed to be. He almost shook his head at himself; he had decidedly been spending too much time around this human.

Around _Arturia_.

He didn’t have the time to linger on that line of thought, because she was now asking him a few questions, and they settled to meet again in two days near the cave to discuss more details; she was going to bring other humans, while he would bring other demons.

Before he could do more than uncover his best smirk, she surprised him once again by suddenly extending her hand.

“I don’t know whether shaking hands means anything in the demon world,” she told him, no uncertainties or insecurities in her voice. “But in the human world, at least in this case, its meaning is to seal our agreement. I would appreciate it if you shook my hand.”

He considered this for a while, taking enough time to almost make her uncomfortable, and then acquiesced.

Long elegant fingers with sharp demonic nails clasped a small human hand without any harmful intent, not trying to tear through her flesh or rip her limb from her body. The grip was firm on both sides, and it tightened for a moment, before the blonde slayer locked eyes with him and gave a nod.

“You are a strange human,” he said unexpectedly. “What is even stranger is that I actually learned something from you.” The shadow of a smile appeared on his face, before his eyes fixated on one specific spot. “I now want to do something else I’ve seen humans do.”

Before she could decide whether or not she wanted to protest – she would have had to be blind not to see his gaze glued to her lips – he leaned forward, his face getting impossibly close to hers as he still held her hand in his grasp, and he kissed her.

The touch was very brief, and to anyone else, it would have seemed almost impersonal. But Arturia’s lips felt like they were on fire, and when he met her gaze again, Gilgamesh’s eyes were burning with the same intensity.

He seemed to control his emotions immediately as soon as he pulled back though.

“It’s an odd custom you have,” he declared, eyes never leaving hers. “But not necessarily an objectionable one.”

There was a pause, before he meaningfully added, “And not one I couldn’t get used to.”

Arturia was fighting to keep her expression composed, but she could not deny that she felt flabbergasted.

Of all the things he could have done, the lion demon had willingly decided to kiss her – even though she knew that her lips were chapped and there were still blood traces on her skin from the battle from the day before.

It hadn’t been a forceful gesture and she hadn’t wanted to refuse, but she couldn’t find a logical explanation for kissing her in such a moment and in such an environment. Especially since it was a gesture he shared with a different creature, one belonging to a different _species_ , and with their species currently determined to kill each other.

Unless, of course, they managed to work together and actually bring some kind of peace between their worlds.

Suddenly his willingness to help her started to make more sense.

“Goodbye, Arturia. We will meet again.”

It was surprising, how effortlessly he could say her name as he took a step away from her, ready to exit the cave, since outside the snow was now falling very slowly. Hearing him say her name felt natural and right, almost as natural as it had felt using his the day before, and as natural as it was going to feel when she used it again.

It would be very nice if all demons and humans could find this sort of ease with each other. She had always been determined to do everything in her power to get to a truce, but now her resolve was stronger than ever.

She straightened herself, and she could tell that her smile had captured his attention in an extremely positive way, to put it mildly.

And without any true logic, she suddenly felt certain that it wasn’t going to be the last time she smiled at him.

“Of course we will, Gilgamesh.”

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	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set about two years later ;) I hope you enjoy!

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His arms were crossed, and he was having a hard time in holding back his claws as he stared at the small woman who was still determined to defy him.

She wasn’t impressed by his efforts in controlling his displeasure, and held his gaze.

“No, Gilgamesh. I said I would not marry you, and I’m not going to change my mind.”

The whites of his eyes had almost completely been taken over by the crimson colour that indicated his demonic nature, and he took a step closer to her.

“Marriage is a human custom,” he hissed warningly. “A _human_ tradition, it is what humans do when they pledge to spend their lives together, according to what _you_ said.” He was beyond livid by this point. “I agree to such a ritual, which has nothing to do with the demon world – _and you dare reject me!?_ ”

Taken aback, she stared at him, unable to give an answer. Seeing that she wasn’t about to speak any time soon, he glowered.

“Why do you say no to marriage?” he repeated, tone dark.

“Since when do you care about human traditions, Gilgamesh?” she finally found her voice again.

“What kind of ludicrous question is that, _Arturia?_ ” he shot back. “You know perfectly well that I started caring when I met you.”

She was not going to blush – she was _not_.

Searching for a valid argument to counter with, she unsurprisingly found one rather quickly.

“So far, you have repeatedly proved that you _detest_ human traditions.”

But his reply was equally rapid.

“For most of them, that’s indeed the truth,” he smoothly agreed. “Not _marriage_ though. And as it is such an interesting tradition, I doubt very much that it was a human invention.”

She gave him an indignant stare.

“You scoff at everything human, yet you want to _marry_ one? What on earth are you playing at?”

 _He_ was indignant now.

“I don’t want to marry _one_ – I want to marry _you_.”

“And I said _no_.” Her tone was categorical. “But to answer your earlier question, I refuse marriage because you have no understanding of it. You see it as a way to stake a claim on me, to command me, to _decide_ for me. I will _never_ stand for that and I won’t accept it from anyone, least of all from _you_.”

However, instead of becoming as furious as she had somewhat expected, he gave her a long, hard look.

“That’s not what marriage is,” he unexpectedly said. “No one will ever stake a claim on you. No one. And you know that as well as I do.” It was obviously costing him some pride to admit as much, and she could see it clearly. “Marriage is a way to bind two people together. If you see it differently, that’s only my concern as long as it prevents you from accepting.”

He was now looking at her haughtily. “I know what human men ask of their wives – to stay at home, prepare meals, breed and look after children, maybe take care of the house. Don’t you dare insult me, Arturia, by even just _suspecting_ me of wanting to ask such things of you.”

Arturia hid her confusion as best as she could and merely offered him an unimpressed expression as she focused on what she could easily disprove.

“I believe it’s quite impossible for us to have children at all, because of my holy powers and your demonic nature,” she pointed out in a straightforward manner. “I don’t think conceiving is ever going to happen.”

“And you think I care about that?” he questioned, rather angrily. “Do you think I want to marry you in order to have an offspring? And do you truly think I don’t remember you telling me that you are not interested in having children in the first place? Have you been paying any attention to how much attention I pay to you _at all_ , Arturia!?”

“Of course I have been paying attention!” she replied hotly. “How could I have not?”

Gilgamesh seemed to be beside himself. Arturia had never seen him so close to losing control before.

“This only confirms that for the past few months you must have been aware of my interest in marriage! Why would you believe I’m not serious about it? And _why_ would you keep refusing!?”

Arturia could no longer dodge the question; she had been a fool to try and do so.

“Because– because–…” It was slightly more difficult than she had expected, but she was not going to give up. “Because it would not mean what you think it does.”

Her voice had dropped in volume, sounding almost defeated now. “If I agree to get married, it would not be about us, about what _we_ want. Since we are the ones who offered to begin the peace talks in the first place, the marriage will become a _tool_.”

Gilgamesh was too clever to not begin to see what she was hinting at, but he let her continue without interruptions.

“Those who are in favour of the treaty will use it as a poster, a symbol, even some sort of propaganda. Those who are against the treaty will accuse us of having wanted peace only in order to get married. Either way, it will not be a meaningful marriage; it will only be a political device, for every single faction involved.”

Her green eyes were determined. “I am not against marrying you, Gilgamesh. But I will not be part of a political marriage that will exist only to be exploited.”

To her slight surprise, he gave her a faint smirk.

“You can be such a cold woman, Arturia. Merely ‘not being against’ a marriage to me is quite wounding.”

She gaped at him, unable to believe her ears.

“Is that all you got from my words? Were you listening–”

“Arturia.” His voice was now curt, cutting her off. “I’ve always listened to your every word, even when I didn’t agree with you. And while the concerns you raise are valid and not to be dismissed,” he deeply disliked having to admit as much, she could see it in every movement of his mouth, “the solution for them does exist. First you need to answer a simple question though.”

He was looking at her very, very intently. “Discarding for a moment all the politics and potential wars involved – would you marry me?”

Arturia examined his face cautiously.

“ _If_ the situation wasn’t like this… yes, I would. But the situation can neither be chosen nor changed, therefore–”

He appeared not to have heard what she said after the word ‘yes’.

“Then we can simply get married without telling anyone.”

If Arturia thought she had not truly been gaping before, her mouth was definitely hanging open now, and she was speechless.

“You want _secrecy?_ ” she managed to hiss at last. “All this discussion about marriages only to have it be a purposeless secret that is eventually going to be exposed because it’s _bound_ to be discovered at some point? And what _is_ the actual reason then–?”

He was beyond annoyed.

“I’m not interested in marriage in order to show it off or to hide it from others.” His voice was dripping with ice. “All I want is to be with you in a way that follows the human traditions, because you are human, and that is what humans do when they _commit_.”

Arturia was beginning to feel her anger growing again.

“You don’t trust my word when I say I want to be with you? You need me to marry you!?”

“I don’t need you to – I _want_ you to.”

Arturia’s eyebrows rose so abruptly that it almost hurt.

“You _what?_ ”

“I want you to make a commitment with human customs,” he repeated, and all traces of humour were gone from his face as he said so – he was serious. “You are the one who values equality and fairness above anything else. I have committed to you following the demon traditions, giving you one of my fangs,” his eyes briefly lingered on the intricate white design that composed her necklace, magically created specifically for her, “and officially considering you my mate – but while you said you are not opposed to marriage, you did nothing more. I cannot accept that.”

It was extremely irritating that, at least about this, he actually _had a point_.

Gilgamesh had shown, throughout the former several months, that he meant to be with her, and had proven it by doing what demons did when they chose a mate. Arturia had accepted his gifts and everything they entailed, becoming part of his world; but she had admittedly not made him part of _her_ world. And in addition to the fact that he wasn’t mistaken when he emphasized the importance she placed on fairness, allowing their bond to be real with a human ceremony was something she _wanted_ too.

Perhaps their entire argument could have an extremely simple resolution after all.

“No one knows I’m your mate, except for the fang-forger Enkidu,” she said slowly, after the long pause she needed in order to organize her thoughts. “And no one must know about our marriage except the officiant. Which will be Merlin.”

Had he been human, Gilgamesh would have inhaled sharply, but being a demon, the only visible change was the sudden reducing of the crimson in his eyes, even as they started glinting much more than before.

“Then that will be today,” was all he said, and Arturia knew that he meant that they were going to see Merlin right away.

And for once, she did not find anything to object about his plan.

They had meetings later in the day, difficult treaties to discuss, culture-clashes to face, countless agreements still to reach. However, at least for the following few hours, they were going to have some time to themselves in order to finally make their relationship official not just in one, but in both the worlds where they belonged.

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